eCover 3D

Although this program offers a decent set of tools for designing 3D covers for a variety of media sources, its unintuitive interface and steep learning curve temper our enthusiasm. Designing a CD, e-book, or DVD cover with eCover 3D is no simple task. Rather than first letting you select a template before adding an image, the application forces you to open an image, then apply it to a certain template, a procedure we found baffling even with the assistance of the help files. Once that process is complete, you can open your cover in the 3D environment before tweaking parameters for lighting, camera, scaling, and rotation. Unfortunately, the trial version places a large watermark over your case, which ruins the look of your printed covers. We did appreciate the available image-editing tools, which include those for color adjustment, resizing, adding effects, and drawing. This application certainly looks promising, but until it's easier to use, we can only suggest it to patient and experienced users.